The present disclosure herein relates to an apparatus and method for treating a substrate, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for treating a substrate using a supercritical fluid.
Semiconductor devices are manufactured through various processes including a photolithography process in which a circuit pattern is formed on a substrate such as a silicon wafer. While the semiconductor devices are manufactured, various foreign substances such as particles, organic contaminants, metal impurities, and the like may be generated. These foreign substances may cause substrate defects to directly exert a bad influence on performance and yield of semiconductor devices. Thus, a cleaning process for removing the foreign substances may be essentially involved in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.
The cleaning process includes a chemical process of removing foreign substances on a substrate, a washing process of washing chemicals by using deionized water, and a drying process of drying the substrate. A typical drying process is performed by replacing the DI water existing on the substrate with an organic solvent such as isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to evaporate the IPA.
However, such a drying process may cause pattern collapse as ever in a semiconductor device having a fine circuit pattern with a line width of about 30 nm or less even though the organic solvent is used. Thus, the current trend is an increase in replacement of the existing drying process with a supercritical drying process.